“If America embraces this idea that Israel should be boycotted — which a lot of people in the Democratic Party want to do — it would be tragic, and we’re trying to make sure that never happens.”
Over 2,000 people are expected to attend Hangar 11 at the Port of Tel Aviv on Wednesday for the first International Conservative Conference in Tel Aviv, co-hosted by CPAC, Tel Aviv International Salon, Sella Meir Publishing, and Shibolet Press.
“As we started adding these CPACs around the world, so many people said that we should go to Israel. And obviously a lot of our American supporters thought that would be great,” said Matt Schlapp, CPAC Chairman.
The conference in 2018
“We had a delegation to Israel some three years ago, to start the conversation about the conference. We’re just excited to be here on the ground with a really large delegation,” he said. “Israel is full of so many interesting religious and historical sites, so we wanted at least to spend a few days learning and touring.”
He said that the conference is about “making a connection with conservatives in Israel about what we have in common and about what the challenges are in a very dangerous world.”
“We’re building relationships here over the days before the conference starts; And the conference itself will obviously have over 2,500 people and international news media,” he said.
“In each country we go to, we have partner organizations, and we’re very proud to be working with these co-sponsors and we’re really excited for the event on Wednesday night,” said Schlapp.
The conservative mission
The event is part of a series of similar conferences the CPAC is hosting worldwide, including in Australia, Japan, and Brazil, among other countries. Schlapp says that having a global presence is not a substitute to the organization’s core mission. “We have a lot of problems in our own country,” he said. “And we don’t want to take our eye off the ball and say that somehow we’re going to focus on America less. We’re very focused on America. This is additional to all of our challenges in our own country.”
“We were approached first by conservatives in Japan who wanted to start a Japanese conservative union, and they told us they wanted to have a CPAC in Japan,” he continued. “They started the organization, and then we thought it was a stretch goal, to say the least, to actually have a CPAC in a foreign country. And we started; we had the first one in Japan some five years ago. And the roster of countries where we had CPAC is pretty impressive; it started in Asia with this whole concept of being anti-communist and worrying about China on the move.”
“And part of what CPAC is trying to do is push back on the idea that global institutions like the EU or the UN will make decisions that nation-states should be making,” he said. “Our idea is that conservatives in Australia should determine the course of the country, not China, not big powers in the region, not the UN.”
“I think the common theme with the countries where we have a CPAC conference is that they worry that America will lose its way,” he continued. “And if America loses its way, that’ll be very bad for each of these countries. And I think that’s especially true for Israel.”
He went on to say that there’s a strong bond between the US and Israel, “and it’s quite a dynamic partnership,” said Schlapp. “And if America embraces this idea that somehow Israel should be boycotted and that we should separate our historic bonds, which a lot of people in the Democratic Party now want to do, it would be tragic, and we’re trying to make sure that never happens.”
The three-hour event will feature Ben Shapiro, Amit Segal and Omri Casspi as the conference’s highlights, and will also feature a panel discussion with Schlapp.
Matthew Whitaker, former US Attorney-General, and Amir Ohana, Likud MK and former Israeli Minister of Justice, will participate in a panel discussion titled “conservative judicial revolution” with Dan Schneider, CPAC Executive Vice Chairman.
Former US ambassador to Germany and former director of national intelligence, Ric Grenell, will speak about “Europe’s response to Israel ”Former US ambassadors to the UAE and Morocco will discuss “peace through strength” with CPAC Senior Fellow Mercedes Schlapp.
As reported by The Jerusalem Post